Media Matters re charge that Dems "purged God" from platform: Dems mentioned God more in 2000, 2004

Posting this in case any of you need responses to the latest GOP hysteria:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/09/04/dishonest-fox-graphic-god-edition/189742

MMFA has a graph there showing that, in the party platforms:

In 2000, Democrats mentioned God 4 times, Republicans mentioned God once.

In 2004, Democrats mentioned God 7 times, Republicans mentioned God 3 times.

In 2008, Democrats mentioned God once, Republicans mentioned God twice.

And this year, Republicans mentioned God 12 times.


Ask any rightwingers you know who are getting hysterical over this year's platform if they REALLY believe that Democrats were much more religious than Republicans in 2000 and 2004, and that Republicans suddenly became 6 times as religious since 2008.

If they're going to make silly arguments with numbers like these, counting the mentions of the word "God" in the platform, then it helps to have numbers about past platforms to counter them.

And in case you hadn't heard much about the latest GOP hysteria, here's an article about Lyin' Ryan diving right into it:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80731.html

GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said President Barack Obama’s administration “purged” mentions of God from the Democratic party platform Wednesday.

“I think it’s rather peculiar,” Ryan said on “Fox and Friends.” “It’s not in keeping with our founding documents, our founding vision. I’d guess you’d have to ask the Obama administration why they purged all this language from their platform. There sure is a lot of mention of government. I guess I would just put the onus and the burden on them to explain why they did all this, these purges of god.”

While there are no mentions of “God” in the Democratic platform, it does contain a plank on religious freedom, opening with the declaration: “Faith has always been a central part of the American story.” “God” is mentioned twelve times in the Republican platform.

An April Gallup poll found very religious voters favored GOP nominee Mitt Romney over Obama, 54 percent to 37 percent. Obama led among moderately religious and non-religious voters.

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